The Real Deal New York

De Blasio lags affordable housing goals at 100-day mark

Two Trees, Related Companies projects make first dent with 839 units promised

April 07, 2014 04:45PM

After 100 days in office, the de Blasio administration is already behind on its goal to create or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in New York City.

In order to achieve this number, Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration would have to build or preserve 55 such apartments per day, according to the Wall Street Journal. And at the 100 day mark they are running behind schedule, despite a couple of recent high-profile deals that have made headway recently.

Two Trees Management agreed to construct 537,000 square feet of affordable housing — or 700 units — in early March at the developer’s Domino Sugar refinery site in Williamsburg. And though specifics about the income parameters for prospective tenants and size of the units haven’t yet been provided, the project kicked off the biggest chunk of affordable housing additions under de Blasio so far.

In another deal, the Related Companies agreed to devote all of a 139-unit building at 539 West 29th Street near its Hudson Yards project to affordable housing. The structure was initially slated to be 80 percent market-rate and 20 percent affordable, and Related said it sought federal subsidies to make the entire building affordable when the initial breakdown was proposed.

Mayor de Blasio and his officials have said they will unveil a plan to tackle the remainder of the administration’s affordable housing goals by May 1. [WSJ] — Julie Strickland